z:\ ambedkar\vol 04\vol4 05.indd MK SJ DK YS 23 9 2013/YS 8 11 2013 224
224 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
According to Manu the Magadhas [1] are bastards born of Vaishya male and Kshatriya female. Panini the Grammarian gives quite a different derivation of ‘Magadha’. According to him “Magadha” means a person who comes from the country known as Magadha. Magadha corresponds roughly to the present Patna and Gaya districts of Bihar. The Magadhas have been mentioned as independent sovereign people right from the earliest times. They are first mentioned in the Atharva-Veda. The famous Jarasandha was the king of Magadha who was a contemporary of the Pandavas.
According to Manu the Nishadas are the bastards born caste from Brahmin males and Shudra females. History has quite a different tale to tell. The Nishadas were a native tribe with its own independent territory and its own kings. They are a very ancient tribe. The Ramayana mentions Guha as the King of Nishadas whose capital was Sringaverapura and who showed hospitality to Rama when he was undergoing excile in the forest.
As to the Vaidehaka Manu says that they are the bastards born of Vaishya Male and Brahmin female. Etymologically Vaidehaka means a person who is a native of the country called Videha [2] . Ancient Videha corresponds to the modern districts of Champaran and Darbhanga in Bihar. The country and its people have been known to history from a very remote antiquity. The Yajur-Veda mentions them. Ramayana refers to them. Sita the wife of Rama is the daughter of Janak who was the king of Videha and whose capital was Mithila.
Many more cases could be examined. Those that have been are quite sufficient to show how Manu has perverted history and defamed the most respectable and powerful tribes into bastards. This wholesale bastardization of huge communities Manu did not apply to the Vratyas. But his successors carried the scheme further and bastardized the Vratyas also. Karma in Manu is Vratya. But the Brahma Vaivarta Purana makes them Bastards and says that they are the progeny of Vaishya father and Shudra mother. Paundraka in Manu is Vratya. But in the Brahmavaivarta Purana he is a bastard born of Vaishya father and Chundi mother. Malla in Manu is Vratya. But in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana he is a bastard born of Letta father and Tibara mother. The Vharjjakautakas are Vratya Brahmanas according to Manu. But in the Gautama Sanhita they are bastards born from a Brahman father and Vaishya mother. The Yavanas were declared by Manu as Vratya Kshatriya. But in Gautama Sanhita they are shown as bastards born of a Kshatriya father and Shudra mother.
1 For the History of Magadha see Chapter IV of Ancient Indian Tribes by B.C. Law.
2 For the History of the Videhas see part II Chapter I of Kshatriya clans in Buddhist India by B.C. Law.